Savvy Senior:

How to Find Volunteer Opportunities in Retirement

Dear Savvy Senior,

What resources can you recommend for locating interesting volunteer opportunities? Since I retired, I’ve been doing some volunteer work but most of the opportunities I’ve tried haven’t been very satisfying.

Unsatisfied Volunteer

Dear Volunteer,

For many retirees, finding a volunteer opportunity that satisfies your interests, utilizes your talents and matches your availability can be challenging. To help you find an interesting and satisfying volunteer opportunity, here are some tips and online tools that can help you search.

Getting Started

Volunteering is a great way for retirees to make a positive contribution to their community and stay actively engaged, not to mention it’s good for your health too. But how can you find the right opportunity for you? Start by asking yourself some basic questions like: What types of organizations or activities are you interested in? What kind of skills can you offer a volunteer organization? How much time are you willing to give? What do you want to gain from your experience (for example, meet new people, learn new skills, help those in need, exposure to a particular issue)?

Once you get a general idea of what you’d like to do, there are dozens of volunteer websites that can help you search for different opportunities in your area.

Most sites work like search engines that let you choose an area of interest and type in your ZIP code or city and state. The sites will then give you a list of opportunities that you can check into. Depending on your interest and expertise, here are some top websites to help you get started.

General volunteer matching sites: To find a wide variety of volunteer opportunities in your community, check out VolunteerMatch.org, IdeaList.org and AllForGood.org – a Point of Light website (the world’s leading volunteer service organization) that lets you search for local volunteer opportunities or start your own project and invite others to help you. Also see HandsOnNetwork.org, another Point of Light enterprise that connects volunteers to opportunities through more than 250 volunteer centers throughout the U.S.

Retiree volunteer sites: If you’re interested in opportunities targeting older adults and retirees, some good options include AARP’s CreateTheGood.org, along with SeniorCorps.gov, which matches retirees with community projects and organizations that need experienced volunteer help.

Senior Corps offers three different programs: RSVP, which has a variety of volunteer activities with flexible time commitments; the Senior Companion Program that brings together volunteers with homebound seniors who have difficulty with day-to-day living tasks; and the Foster Grandparent Program that matchers volunteers with kids in the community that have exceptional needs.

Government-sponsored sites: There are also a number of government-sponsored websites that can help you look for different volunteer opportunities. To locate dozens of general options in your area visit Serve.gov. To find natural and cultural volunteer opportunities in places like national and state parks, see Volunteer.gov. If you’re interested in emergency preparedness and disaster response volunteer services go to Ready.gov. Or, if you’re interested in longer-term volunteer opportunities check out AmeriCorps.gov and PeaceCorps.gov/50plus, which offers a bevvy of three-month to two-year programs in the U.S and abroad.

Professional and executive sites: If you have expertise in areas like business planning and development, marketing, communications, finance, fund raising, web and graphic design, or writing and editing there are sites – like Catchafire.org, TaprootPlus.org and ESCUS.org – that can link you to volunteer opportunities with nonprofit organizations in need. Or, you can help entrepreneurs and small business owners through the SCORE.org volunteer mentoring program.